Thomson Reuters Foundation: Investment in health is the foundation for sustainable development
Marijke Wijnroks, interim executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as of June 1

“…At the most basic level, health financing supports interventions that save individual lives; beyond this, it builds stronger systems that forestall myriad potential health crises. Robust systems for health are the sentinels that guard against regional or global outbreaks. … This historic meeting of G20 health ministers is an important affirmation that diseases and the people they threaten are part of a bigger picture. They exist within a health system that either provides a springboard to well-being and economic prosperity or fuels the cycle of poverty and insecurity by limiting opportunities for education and employment. The Global Fund is working to build the former, using innovative public-private partnerships that are defining social and economic development in the 21st century. … We can immunize children, prevent malaria, and cure tuberculosis. We can help empower people to stay free of HIV. We can build systems that provide prevention and care, and — when necessary — respond swiftly to crises that threaten our global health security. We can invest in research and technology that allows us to stay ahead of drug resistance. These are the hallmarks of universal health care, and this is the foundation for sustainable development” (5/19).